What Feast Days are We Celebrating in June?

June is always jam-packed with activities; graduations, confirmations, weddings, etc., but there are also some fun feast days to celebrate this month!

First, watch the short video below to see what Feast days are coming up in June! Then, read below to learn some fun facts about these June feast days. NOTE: there are many feast days in June so we only selected a few to highlight…let us know in the comments if there are others you like to celebrate!

June 9 – Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday is the last day in the Easter Season as well as the Birthday of the Church! This year the whole family will be in town that weekend for graduations so we will certainly be in celebration mode!

On Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and gave them the sacrament of Confirmation. This Sunday is a great day to celebrate any children being Confirmed this year! Adventure Guide Lillian was confirmed last month, and one of her favorite presents was The Catholic Scripture Study Bible, a family tradition that all of us receive at our Confirmation. Another great gift to celebrate Pentecost is the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Pillowcase!  

June 10 – Mary, Mother of the Church

Instituted in 2018 by Pope Francis, this is the Church’s newest Marian Feast Day! Like all of Mary’s feast days, a great way to celebrate this day is praying a family rosary. A great tool for meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary is The Rosary of St. John Paul II Book. 

June 13 – St. Anthony of Padua

We’re all very familiar with St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost objects. Whether we’ve lost our keys or our mom’s phone, he is always right there to help us find them (a great way to keep track of your keys is attaching the St. Anthony Tiny Saint to your key chain)!

 However, most people don’t know the reason why St. Anthony is the patron of lost things. St. Anthony had a very expensive book of Psalms stolen by a runaway Franciscan novice. Once St. Anthony realized the book was missing, he immediately began praying for its return. Meanwhile, the novice received a visit from a surprise messenger who told the young man to return the book. You can find out WHO told the novice to return the book by listening to St. Anthony’s Glory Story!

In addition, the canonizaiton of St. Anthony happened less than a year after his death, one of the fastest canonization processes ever! You can celebrate St. Anthony’s feast day by making a tonsure cake (a tonsure is a haircut many monks and friars receive with the head shaved except for a ring of hair around the edge). Or you can organize a St. Anthony scavenger hunt (get it?)!

June 20 – Corpus Christi

The feast of Corpus Christi (Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ) celebrates the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The Bishop of Verdun (who later became Pope Urban IV) established this feast day at the urging of St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon who had received a vision foretelling the feast day.

Traditionally, churches had Eucharistic processions throughout the town on Corpus Christi. At our parish, we have a procession after each Mass (just around the church though since we can’t walk through town)! See if your diocese has a Eucharistic procession on this feast day.

Another old tradition on Corpus Christi in Europe was performing pageants or mystery plays in the town square, often depicting the story of St. George and the dragon. One of my family’s favorite things to do used to be to put on elaborate plays! I can’t remember if we ever did a play on Corpus Christi, but we were ALWAYS putting on a play in our living room.

Check out our Complete Learn the Mass Set to become a little more familiar with the Mass as well as our Catholic History or The Sacred That Surrounds Us to learn more about the objects and vessels used during the Holy Mass on this important feast day!

June 24 – Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Guess what this Solemnity means? It’s 6 months ’til CHRISTMAS EVE!

Enough reason to celebrate, right? Remember: God sent an angel to Zechariah to announce the conception of John the Baptist 6 months before He sent an angel to request Mary to become the mother of the Messiah. In the Bible, we hear that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months–the last trimester of pregnancy up to the birth of baby John!

Fun Fact: Did you know that the Church celebrates just three birthdays liturgically? Think about it…whose birthdays could they be? Ask your kids–I bet they can figure them out! Then tell us in the comments below, and we’ll tell you if you’re right!

June 28 – Sacred Heart of Jesus

On this Solemnity, my family likes to make fun desserts. We’ve pinned a few of them on our Pinterest Account for you all to see! This feast day moves around a lot, but its always 19 days after Pentecost. So even though Easter is over, this feast day gives us another day to celebrate! The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is also the day after the Sacred Heart of Jesus so be sure and celebrate that feast too!

The celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is inspired by the visions St. Mary Margaret received of Jesus Christ’s Sacred Heart, encouraging her to promote the devotion to Our Lord’s Heart. A great way to practice this devotion all year long is praying The Morning Offering Prayer. When we say this prayer, we are offering up our day for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. If you don’t already say this beautiful prayer each morning, get The Morning Offering Pillowcase to remind you every time you wake up.

June 29 – Sts. Peter & Paul

As my dad would say, the feast of St. Peter & Paul is a “double-whammy!” St. Peter and St. Paul were both pillars of the early church. St. Peter as the first pope, and St. Paul is one of the greatest evangelists, which makes this a very important feast day for Catholics!

A great way to celebrate this feast day is reading a few chapters from their books in the Bible. St. Paul has quite a few to choose from (ranging from one to twenty pages long), and St. Peter authored two (short enough to read all the way through in under fifteen minutes).

In addition, a great book for your older kids (and you!) is Patrick Madrid’s book Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic. This book is full of inspiring conversion stories, many of which were the result of the writings of Sts. Peter and Paul. This book is a great one to have multiple copies of…just to hand to visitors who may or may not be Catholic…because the stories are personal and short and easy to read and they hit on so many different issues and perspectives which might be what it takes to convince a friend to come home to the Catholic Church. Dad told me he usually had multiple copies on the bookshelves in the living room so when someone saw it, he could just say, “Take it–somehow I ended up with an extra copy…”

Let us know in the comments what your family’s favorite June Feast Days are and how they are celebrated in your home. May God bless you this June! Pray for us!